Performance Analysis of Energy Detection over Mixture Gamma based Fading Channels with Diversity Reception

The present paper is devoted to the evaluation of energy detection based spectrum sensing over different multipath fading and shadowing conditions. This is realized by means of a unified and versatile approach that is based on the particularly flexible mixture gamma distribution. To this end, novel analytic expressions are firstly derived for the probability of detection over MG fading channels for the conventional single-channel communication scenario. These expressions are subsequently employed in deriving closed-form expressions for the case of square-law combining and square-law selection diversity methods. The validity of the offered expressions is verified through comparisons with results from respective computer simulations. Furthermore, they are employed in analyzing the performance of energy detection over multipath fading, shadowing and composite fading conditions, which provides useful insighs on the performance and design of future cognitive radio based communication systems.Comment: To appear in the IEEE WiMob 2015 conference proceeding

Thin maintenance surface guidelines for local roads

Thin Maintenance Surfaces (TMS) are used in Iowa to protect the pavement structure, slow the rate of pavement deterioration, and remedy certain pavement surface deficiencies. TMS treatments include seal coats, slurry seal, and micro-surfacing. The objective of this research is to develop guidelines that will help local road maintenance planners decide which type of maintenance surfaces to apply under which conditions. The guidelines were developed in a five-step process after reviewing the literature and the results of a survey, The survey was sent to 99 counties, 93 cities, and 200 towns in Iowa. The response rate was 100%, 41%, 23% for counties, cites, and towns respectively. Some of the important findings of this survey are: Seal coat is the treatment most often used in Iowa. Slurry seal is less used, and micro-surfacing is not used. The most common aggregates used in Iowa are limestone chips and pea gravel. Most Iowa officials use cutback binders for their seal coat projects. Most Iowa officials select TMS treatment based on their past successful practice. Information needs were greatest regarding which binder to specify, and which type of TMS to apply under which condition. TMS treatment will be 19% to 37% less expensive if quality local aggregates were used rather than imported aggregates. Slurry seal and micro-surfacing are labor and equipment intensive. For seal coat, aggregate is the largest percentage of the total costs. To apply the guidelines, the maintenance planner starts by reviewing the condition of the roads. Then feasible maintenance treatments are selected. From the list of feasible treatments, a final selection is made by considering several factors including past practices, funding, construction limitations, and local circumstances

La prevalencia del desgaste dental entre un grupo de adultos Yemeníes.

This study aimed at investigating tooth wear prevalence and determining the associated factors among a group of Yemeni adults. It is a preliminary cross-sectional and analytical investigation conducted on 600 participants aged 20–50 years. The participants were purposively selected from two main cities (Sana’a and Aden) with an equal sample size and divided equally by gender. For administering a questionnaire, interviews were conducted with all participants before clinically examining them. Using the Tooth Wear Index (TWI), tooth wear was assessed. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test to identify the relationship between tooth wear and associated factors., Tooth wear was prevalent among 78.67% of the participants; of which 64.83% were in anterior teeth, 63.83% in posterior teeth, 74% in maxillary teeth, and approximately 74.5% in mandibular teeth. It also was 100% prevalent in the 31-40 and 41-50 age groups, while it was 67.2% in the 20-30 age group. This showed that tooth wear prevalence was significantly higher in the two oldest groups than in the youngest group (p<0.001). Moreover, khat chewing, location, highly frequent consumption of foods and high frequency of acidic drinks consumption were critical indicators of tooth wear. Besides, a low education level, smoking and a low socio-economic status were associated with tooth wear. Finally, the study revealed that tooth wear is highly prevalent among adults in two Yemeni cities, and socio-behavioral risk indicators such as khat chewing and cigarette smoking have a significantly association with tooth wear.Este estudio tuvo como objetivo investigar la prevalencia del desgaste dental y determinar los factores asociados en un grupo de adultos yemeníes. Es una investigación preliminar analítica y transversal que se lleva a cabo en 600 participantes de entre 20 y 50 años. Los participantes fueron seleccionados a propósito de dos ciudades principales (Sana’a y Aden) con un tamaño de muestra igual y divididos por igual por género. Para administrar un cuestionario, se realizaron entrevistas con todos los participantes antes de examinarlos clínicamente. Usando el Índice de Desgaste Dental, se evaluó el desgaste dental. Los datos se analizaron utilizando la prueba de chi-cuadrado para identificar la relación entre el desgaste dental y los factores asociados. El degaste dental tuvo una prevalencia del 78,67% de los participantes; de los cuales 64.83% en dientes anteriores, 63.83% en dientes posteriores, 74% en dientes maxilares y aproximadamente 74.5% en dientes mandibulares. Fue 100% prevalente en los grupos de edad 31-40 y 41-50, mientras que la prevalencia fue 67.2% en el grupo de edad 20-30. Esto demostró que la prevalencia del desgaste dental fue significativamente mayor en los dos grupos de personas mayores que en el grupo más joven (p<0.001). Además, mascar khat, la ubicación, el consumo muy frecuente de alimentos y la alta frecuencia de bebidas ácidas fueron indicadores críticos del desgaste dental. Además, el bajo nivel educativo, el tabaquismo y el bajo nivel socioeconómico se asociaron con el degaste dental. Finalmente, el estudio reveló que el desgaste dental es altamente prevalente entre los adultos en dos ciudades yemeníes, y los indicadores de riesgo socioconductual como la masticación de khat y el tabaquismo tienen una asociación significativa con el desgaste dental

The correlation of blue shift of photoluminescence and morphology of silicon nanoporous

Porous silicon with diameters ranging from 6.41 to 7.12 nm were synthesized via electrochemical etching by varied anodization current density in ethanoic solutions containing aqueous hydrofluoric acid up to 65mA/cm2.The luminescence properties of the nanoporous at room temperature were analyzed via photoluminescence spectroscopy. Photoluminescence PL spectra exhibit a broad emission band in the range of 360-700 nm photon energy. The PL spectrum has a blue shift in varied anodization current density; the blue shift incremented as the existing of anodization although the intensity decreased. The current blue shift is owning to alteration of silicon nanocrystal structure at the superficies. The superficial morphology of the PS layers consists of unified and orderly distribution of nanocrystalline Si structures, have high porosity around (93.75%) and high thickness 39.52 µm

IML-ViT: Benchmarking Image Manipulation Localization by Vision Transformer

Advanced image tampering techniques are increasingly challenging the trustworthiness of multimedia, leading to the development of Image Manipulation Localization (IML). But what makes a good IML model? The answer lies in the way to capture artifacts. Exploiting artifacts requires the model to extract non-semantic discrepancies between manipulated and authentic regions, necessitating explicit comparisons between the two areas. With the self-attention mechanism, naturally, the Transformer should be a better candidate to capture artifacts. However, due to limited datasets, there is currently no pure ViT-based approach for IML to serve as a benchmark, and CNNs dominate the entire task. Nevertheless, CNNs suffer from weak long-range and non-semantic modeling. To bridge this gap, based on the fact that artifacts are sensitive to image resolution, amplified under multi-scale features, and massive at the manipulation border, we formulate the answer to the former question as building a ViT with high-resolution capacity, multi-scale feature extraction capability, and manipulation edge supervision that could converge with a small amount of data. We term this simple but effective ViT paradigm IML-ViT, which has significant potential to become a new benchmark for IML. Extensive experiments on five benchmark datasets verified our model outperforms the state-of-the-art manipulation localization methods.Code and models are available at \url{https://github.com/SunnyHaze/IML-ViT}

Spatial analysis of the age structure of the population of Haditha District for the period 1997-2020

The study of the age structure is an important element to follow the changes between different population groups, and based on that, the aim of the study was to study the age structure and its indicators for the population of a modern district with its administrative borders(1997-2020).  The study showed that the age structure is constantly changing, as the general trend of the younger age groups is decreasing, which led to a decrease in the proportion of the youngest group (0-14) years.  While the middle age groups (15-64 years) their percentages tended to increase.  As for the elderly category, it was the least variable in the amount of the ratio and the most volatile and unstable in the direction of change. The relative change in the age structure contributed to the change in the dependency ratio, median age and aging index. The dependency ratio tended to decrease in all its types.  As for the median age, as a result of the increase in life expectancy at birth and the increase in the number of the population in the middle age groups, this contributed to raising the median age.&nbsp

Plasma Dopamine Level as a Biomarker for Pain in Myofascial Temporomandibular Disorders

الخلفية: تتميز اضطرابات المفصل الصدغي الفكي الليفي العضلي (M-TMD) بألم مزمن وخلل في عضلات الفك، وغالبًا ما يرتبط ذلك بالتوتر واختلالات كيميائية عصبية. وقد اقتُرح استخدام الدوبامين، وهو ناقل عصبي مسؤول عن تنظيم الألم، كمؤشر حيوي محتمل للألم المرتبط باضطراب المفصل الصدغي الفكي الليفي العضلي. هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى تقييم مستويات الدوبامين في بلازما الدم لدى مرضى اضطراب المفصل الصدغي الفكي الليفي العضلي مقارنةً بالمجموعة الضابطة الأصحاء، واستكشاف دوره كمؤشر حيوي للألم. الأهداف: كان الهدف الرئيسي هو تقييم مستويات الدوبامين في بلازما الدم لدى مرضى اضطراب المفصل الصدغي الفكي الليفي العضلي وربطها بأعراض الألم السريرية. وشملت الأهداف الثانوية تحليل اختلافات الدوبامين حسب الجنس والعمر والنتائج السريرية. الطرق: أُجريت تجربة سريرية مستقبلية على 50 مشاركًا (25 مريضًا باضطراب المفصل الصدغي الفكي الليفي العضلي و25 من المجموعة الضابطة الأصحاء المتطابقين في العمر والجنس). جُمعت عينات الدم في أنابيب EDTA، وطُردت مركزيًا بسرعة 2000 غرام لمدة 10 دقائق، وحُفظت البلازما عند درجة حرارة -60 درجة مئوية. قُيست مستويات الدوبامين بالنانومول. وسُجلت البيانات السريرية، بما في ذلك العمر والجنس والأعراض ونتائج قياس كثافة المعادن في العظام. وتضمن التحليل الإحصائي مقارنات المتوسطات (اختبار t) وتحليل المجموعات الفرعية حسب الجنس والعمر. النتائج: كانت مستويات الدوبامين في البلازما أعلى بشكل ملحوظ لدى مرضى M-TMD (المتوسط: 5.01 نانومولار) مقارنةً بالمجموعة الضابطة (المتوسط: 2.53 نانومولار؛ قيمة P < 0.001). كان لدى مرضى M-TMD الإناث مستويات دوبامين أعلى قليلاً (المتوسط: 5.12 نانومولار) من الذكور (المتوسط: 4.89 نانومولار)، وإن لم تكن ذات دلالة إحصائية (قيمة P = 0.23). شملت الأعراض الشائعة لدى مرضى M-TMD صرير الأسنان (44%)، وتيبس الفك الصباحي (40%)، وتوتر الفك المرتبط بالتوتر (56%). أظهر جميع المرضى تسطحًا خفيفًا في اللقمة عند استخدام OPG، ولم يُعثر على أي ارتباط ذي دلالة إحصائية بين مستويات الدوبامين والعمر (r = 0.12، قيمة P = 0.34). الخلاصة: تشير مستويات الدوبامين المرتفعة في البلازما لدى مرضى M-TMD إلى دورها المحتمل كمؤشر حيوي للألم والفيزيولوجيا المرضية المرتبطة بالتوتر. وتدعم النتائج إجراء المزيد من التحقيقات في المسارات الدوبامينية في M-TMD واستراتيجيات العلاج الشخصية التي تستهدف اختلال التوازن الكيميائي العصبي.Background: Myofascial Temporomandibular Disorders (M-TMD) are characterized by chronic pain and dysfunction of the jaw muscles, often linked to stress and neurochemical imbalances. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in pain modulation, has been proposed as a potential biomarker for M-TMD-related pain. This study aimed to evaluate plasma dopamine levels in M-TMD patients compared to healthy controls and explore its role as a pain biomarker. Objective: The primary objective was to assess plasma dopamine levels in M-TMD patients and correlate them with clinical pain symptoms. Methods: A case-control study was conducted with 50 participants (25 M-TMD patients and 25 age- and sex-matched healthy controls). Blood samples were collected in EDTA tubes, centrifuged at 2000 g for 10 minutes, and plasma was stored at −60°C. Dopamine levels were measured in nM. Clinical data, including age, gender, symptoms, and OPG findings, were recorded. Statistical analysis included mean comparisons (t-test) and subgroup analysis by gender and age. Results: Plasma dopamine levels were significantly higher in M-TMD patients (mean: 5.01 nM) compared to controls (mean: 2.53 nM; p < 0.001). Female M-TMD patients had slightly higher dopamine levels (mean: 5.12 nM) than males (mean: 4.89 nM), though not statistically significant (p = 0.23). Common symptoms in M-TMD patients included bruxism (44%), morning jaw stiffness (40%), and stress-related jaw tension (56%). All patients exhibited mild condylar flattening on OPG, and no significant correlation was found between dopamine levels and age (r = 0.12, p = 0.34). Conclusion: Elevated plasma dopamine levels in M-TMD patients suggest its potential role as a biomarker for pain and stress-related pathophysiology. The findings support further investigation into dopaminergic pathways in M-TMD and personalized treatment strategies targeting neurochemical imbalances.

Climate Zones of the Asphalt Binder Performance for the Highway Pavement Design

The asphalt pavement is exposed to the natural environment, which is affected by Climate change such as temperature, rain, ultraviolet, and other environmental conditions. This study aimed to establish the asphalt binder performance of Yemen so that the asphalt pavement can be designed to resist the distresses of rutting and cracking that occurred due to seasonal temperature changes and rainfall. The first step of determining the binder performance is to establish high and low temperatures, as well as rainfall because the asphalt binder is a temperature and rainfall sensitive viscoelastic material. To study the climatic zoning of asphalt pavement in Yemen, the data of temperature and rainfall in 19 provinces of Yemen in the past 10 years were collected and comprehensively analyzed, and the variations laws of them were analyzed. According to the Chinese approach, the climatic zoning of Yemen's asphalt pavement was divided. The moisture temperature coefficient was introduced, and its probability distribution state was also analyzed. The standard of the moisture temperature coefficient was suggested and the asphalt pavement climate zones based on the moisture temperature coefficient were determined. The results indicated that the main influencing factors of asphalt pavement in Yemen were the temperature rise and rainfall, and the climate zones of asphalt pavement were divided into different zones such as 1-2-1, 2-2-2, 1-2-2, and 3-1-2. According to the principle of equal probability, the moisture temperature coefficient was found to be 18, and the asphalt pavement climate zoning map was drawn. The findings of this study are highly significant and provide valuable decision support for pavement management and improve the transportation system. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2020-03091613 Full Text: PD